Chapter 4 - Boom, Boom

Carson woke up to the movement of the car taking a harsh turn. Her eyes shot open as her head flew forward, hitting the back of the seat.

"Ah, son of a–"

"Language, Carson, please. There's a kid in this car," Elliot said, looking at Caleb.

"I'm thirteen!" The kid said, sounding offended.

Carson looked out the window and immediately recognized the familiar road. After a few seconds of looking she felt someone's eyes on her. She turned towards Bradley, who had a grin on his face.

"You're cute when you sleep," the boy simply said.

Carson felt a blush creeping onto her cheeks.

"I'm cute when I smile, you're cute when you sleep. Now we're even," Bradley said, proud that he'd made the girl just as embarrassed as he'd been.

Carson shot him a playful glare as the car came to a stop in front of a closed green gate.

"What?" Caleb whined. "We came all this way."

Carson looked at the rearview mirror, looking at Elliot. She knew what he was going to do, so she braced herself.

Elliot made the engine give a slight purr, and Carson closed her eyes.

"What are you doing?" Bradley asked his dad.

Elliot did it again, this time louder and longer.

"Elliot, don–" Caleb cut Carson off before she could finish.

"Do it." The younger Baker started chanting. "Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it!"

"My hands are tied here. Everybody knows you can't refuse the 'do it, do it' chant," Elliot said, looking back at the girl.

Carson just shook her head and gripped her seat, her nails digging into the material.

"Go! Go!" Caleb said, a huge smile on his face.

Bradley noticed her discomfort. "Stop, dad–" he tried to say, but his brother cut him off.

"You can do it dad! You can do it!"

Carson felt the car come in contact with the gate and sucked in a breath, not opening her eyes.

"That was awesome!" She heard Caleb yell.

"That was crazy..." Bradley said.

She slowly opened her eyes and looked at the floor, suddenly gaining interest in the black car carpet. She felt a hand on her shoulder and her head snapped up, her eyes golden meeting Bradley's chocolate brown ones.

"Hey, you ok?" The boy asked, unsure as to why the tough blonde was acting like this.

She gave him a small smile and nodded, her eyes lighting up with the same fire he'd grown to like.

Elliot turned around, his expression turning serious. "Shit, did that cop see us?"

All three kids turned around, slightly panicked.

"What?" Bradley said.

Carson turned back around when she heard Elliot laughing.

"You're such a dick," Bradley mumbled once he realized it was a joke.

"Funny, Elliot. Very funny," Carson said, rolling her eyes.

"You totally went for it! I'd give you up, though, I'd give you up in a heartbeat. 'I'm sorry, officer. I was just tryin' to get to church, but this little one right here was doin' the 'do it, do it, do it' chant'."

All three kids started laughing, and Carson started relaxing again.

After about three more minutes of driving, Carson spotted the old logging site, and a smile made its way to her face.

"Welcome to my office," Elliot said as the car slowed.

"Cool," Caleb replied, not having anything else to say.

The second Elliot parker the car she jumped out, heading to the back.

"Man, I love it up here," Elliot said. "I wish I could just move up here and live off the land."

Carson nodded in agreement, but then she remembered she was supposed to move in a month. She hadn't thought much about it, but she already knew where she wanted to go.

Her mother used to always talk about London when she was a kid. Before getting caught up in the drug business, her dad told her stories of how her mother would daydream about the place, and how she'd always wanted to just go on her way and live there.

"Let's do it, huh?" Elliot continued. "No more responsibilities, no more school..."

"I like school," Bradley said.

Carson, who had been drinking from her coke bottle, nearly choked. "Y–you what?!" she said between coughs.

"Come on, nobody likes school," Elliot said, giving Carson a pat on the back. "Alright, have a seat."

The three kids sat down, Carson grabbing the gun and handing it to Elliot.

"What's the first rule of gun safety?" Elliot asked, looking at the boys.

"No drinking?" Bradley said.

"Don't shoot anybody?" Caleb guessed the obvious.

"Smart-asses. Yeah, that is absolutely the first rule: don't shoot anyone. So always keep the gun pointed downrange, and you keep the safety on until you're ready to fire, ok? Don't be like Carson. This one always keeps the safety off. Nearly shot my arm last month."

Both boys turned towards the girl in shock. She just shrugged and kept looking at the rifle. "It was an accident, and I told you not to walk in front of me while I'm shooting."

Elliot let out a laugh before he continued. "Anyways, it's this little button right here. She the red? That means the safety's off and it's ready to fire."

"So red, you're dead," Carson commented.

"'Red you're dead'. Cool," Caleb said, the excitement obvious in his eyes.

"Ok, ready to give it a shot?" Elliot asked, and the younger boy jumped up immediately.

"Yeah," he said.

Elliot hesitated a second before turning to Carson.

"Let Carson show you how it's done, first."

The girl looked at Elliot, and Bradley noticed a light flicker through her eyes when she picked up the gun.

She positioned her self so the gun was aiming towards the forest and looked at Elliot.

"Throw the cans," she said.

The two boys were confused at first, but then they saw Elliot smiling and shaking his head, grabbing five cans of beer form the car.

There was a moment of silence, Elliot preparing to throw the cans in the air when Carson told him to.

The blonde took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment before opening them again.

"Go."

Elliot threw the first can about six feet from the ground.

Carson took a second to aim and fired.

Elliot threw two cans at once, and the girl repeated her actions until all five cans were on the snow, with a bullet hole in each one.

"Now, that is what I call talent," Elliot said, patting Carson on the back while she put the safety back on.

"Alright, who's going?" The girl asked.

Caleb shot forward, but stopped when she noticed Carson's eyes on Bradley. She smirked.

"Oldest first."

Bradley looked up at the girl, a smile slowly making its way onto his lips. He got up and headed towards her before grabbing the gun.

"Thanks," he said, grinning down at her. She smirked back and moved next to him instead of in front.

"Just pull the lever there," she said, pointing to the lever. The boy did as he was told and waited for more instructions.

"Alright, yeah, now drop it in," Carson said as she gave him a bullet. "Ok, now make sure it's seated. There you go. Snap it shut..."

Bradley snapped the gun shut. "Ok," he said, looking at her and Carson's breath hitched in her throat ever so slightly. Looking at the gun she hadn't noticed how close they'd gotten. Both they're eyes widened slightly and they looked at each other for a minute. They probably would have stayed there for longer, but Elliot let out an awkward cough and grabbed the back of Carson's hoodie, dragging her backwards.

"Just, shoot it anywhere?" Bradley asked his dad.

"You gotta keep it snug," the man answered.

Bradley aimed at nothing at particular and pulled the trigger. He flew backwards, gasping and landing on his back from the force of the rifle.

"Shit," Carson said, kneeling down beside him while his dad laughed.

"I thought you shot yourself!" Caleb exclaimed, trying to hold in laughter. "Oh my god."

"I told you to keep it snug," Elliot said, almost mockingly.

Carson helped Bradley stand up while he rubbed his shoulder, stretching it.

"Alright, well, now we know that this isn't a toy, right?"

"Come on," Carson whispered to Bradley as she placed her arm across his shoulders and led him to the car, wincing every time the boy would gasp in pain.

"Where you going?" Elliot asked, looking at his son and his... well, basically his daughter figure, walk towards the car.

Neither of the teens answered, so the man tried again. "You just gonna go off and cry about it'?"

"Guess it's my turn," Caleb said, hoping this time they would let him have his go.

"Hey, have a damn sense of humor!"

"Can you just give me a minute please?!" Bradley said, frustrated and embarrassed.

"Just leave it, he's an asshole," Carson said to Bradley, partly hoping Elliot would hear it.

The brown haired boy seemed to calm down a little at her words, but anger was still evident in his eyes. He looked at the blonde girl in front of him, who gave him a genuine smile, her eyes darting behind him and towards Elliot, giving him a death glare. She knew it. She knew that somehow, he would screw up. And he did.

And then, he threw a snowball.